Alcohol Ink Cards | Using Die-Cuts + Some Tips

Hi there! I’d like to share another set of quick cards I created using a few alcohol ink backgrounds and basic word die-cuts and sentiments. I will include a few tips for you throughout the post. If you’d like to see how I organize and swatch my alcohol inks, visit my earlier post. Also, don’t miss out on my OrganizeMore discount and giveaway post! It ends on Friday, February 9.

It may seem like there are too many cards, but they were easy to create. When playing with alcohol inks, I use a full 9×12 sheet of Yupo paper and then trim it down to smaller pieces to fit A2 cards. Recently, I used various bright alcohol inks (both Ranger and Jacquard brands) on two sheets of Yupo paper and was able to create 8 cards from those, plus a bonus card from a previous sample I had saved. I used my swatches to pick out a few colors, but after a while, I added some random ones so I wasn’t able to write down all the colors I used.

Let’s take a look at these four cards:

For the top two cards, I used Simon Says Stamp’s “Kindness Matters” die. I die-cut it twice – once with gold glitter cardstock and again with white cardstock. I used the white piece to be able to use the negative of the gold glitter piece. That is a great way to use all your pieces when die-cutting a sentiment!

For the bottom left, I die-cut Neat and Tangled’s “You Can Do Anything” die twice – once with gold glitter cardstock (can you tell I love gold?) and black cardstock and simply glued it to my background. I used black cardstock as a cardbase to coordinate with the black die-cut sentiment.

For the fourth card, I heat-embossed the Altenew sentiment with gold embossing powder onto vellum, and then glued that to gold mirror cardstock before adding it to my background.

Here are the next four cards:

For the top left card, I used Lil Inker Designs’ Quilted Stitched So Knotty Die and ran it through my amazing Gemini Junior die-cutting machine. It created a BEAUTIFUL embossed look on the background.

However, I forgot to add some tape to keep the cardstock in place so it moved while running through. It still came out great. I die-cut the sentiment from Altenew in gold mirror cardstock. I lost the two dots that coordinated with the sentiment so I used some of the negative pieces, ha! With some tiny foam tape pieces in the back, the sentiment pops off the card and is a great contrast to the background.

For the top right card, I heat embossed the sentiment from Avery Elle’s Sentimental set directly onto the Yupo paper. Here’s a tip when heat embossing onto Yupo: make sure the heat gun is really hot and keep the heat gun moving. I only recommend heat embossing on HEAVY Yupo paper. It will not work on the 74 lb Yupo. Initially, you can see on the far left where some of the Yupo melted but eventually it was fine. Also, keep in mind it isn’t as easy to get all the embossing powder off the background. That is fine for me though!

For the bottom left card, I die-cut the Altenew sentiment several times and glued it together to create dimension. I finished it off with some glitter Nuvo drops over the heart to match the background. Have I mentioned how much I love my Gemini Junior?! It makes it so easy to cut these intricate dies.

For the bottom right card, I die-cut “YOU” several times as well for dimension. For the sentiment, I heat embossed it in white onto white cardstock and then used Distress Oxide Salty Ocean to blend in the color to match my background. As mentioned in my previous posts, I hardly use color cardstock. Sometimes you can’t get a perfect match, so this is one way to be able to coordinate colors using ink pads.

Here’s my bonus card for you:

This was one of my favorite cards! I used darker blues, purple and black (plus gold!) alcohol inks to create this gorgeous galaxy background. I added splatters with Hero Arts Unicorn pigment spray and some dots with white pen (after the alcohol ink background was dry). “Stars” was die-cut from gold mirror cardstock and white foam, which I mounted to my background. I added the coordinating sentiment, which was heat embossed in white onto black cardstock.

These are a GREAT way to use your word dies and sentiments to create easy cards with easy alcohol ink backgrounds.

Keep in mind, when playing with alcohol inks – use gloves if you don’t want inky fingers, be in a well-ventilated area or wear a mask, and know that alcohol ink will stain so watch what surface you play on. You can dilute the colors by mixing the colors with alcohol or blending solution. You can add isopropyl alcohol to Yupo paper before adding colors so you can work with them longer before they dry. You can also drop alcohol or blending solution after adding the color to dilute areas or help spread the color more. I use an air puffer to help me move the color around. You can also use a low-heat hair dryer.

Most supplies are linked below for products used. Feel free to ask any questions and/or leave me feedback. I appreciate all comments.

SUPPLIES

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